


Hunters of the Galaxy: The Men of Lettuce

by pseudosmodingium



Series: Hunters of the Galaxy [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Baby is a Spaceship, Everything Hurts, F/M, M/M, Men of Lettuce, Minor Character Death, Pre-Slash, Science Fiction, Space monsters, Torture, Vegetables, a healthy lifestyle, a little bit of humor in the beginning, but it gets better in the end, but then it gets darker, robot Mr. Fizzles, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-19 02:25:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7340872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pseudosmodingium/pseuds/pseudosmodingium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean was raised to be a Man of Lettuce but he hated the life and ran away. Six years later he hunts space monsters together with his friend Castiel, an alien who saved his life a while back. Dean’s brother Sam, who is still with the Men of Lettuce, is not happy about the experiments his fiancée is volunteering for. When Dean is approached by another hunter to stop those experiments, the two brothers are finally reunited. However, that doesn't mean everything's fine now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally, I intended this to be some light sci-fi crack, mocking Sam's healthy lifestyle and Dean's dislike of it. Then I had more and more ideas, the plot expanded and some parts ended up being pretty dark. Oops.  
> I hope you enjoy reading it anyway. Have fun!
> 
> Edit: I've changed the tagging from Major to Minor Character Death. No one of TFW dies! Don't be afraid.

‘Cas, duck!’ Dean shouted, chopping off the monster’s head after his friend had reacted to the command.

‘That was the last one, I guess.’

‘Dean, you’re hurt,’ Castiel told him, lifting a hand onto his cheek. Dean brushed it away with the back of his own, free hand. In the other he still held the bloody machete with which he had been killing five space vampires only seconds ago.

‘Uh, that’s nothing. Just leave it.’

‘But Dean, let me…’

‘No, leave it,’ he insisted and went to make sure all the vampires where actually dead and wouldn’t rise to attack them from behind as they were going to leave.

Dean liked to call them ‘spacepires’. He couldn’t quite understand that that name hadn’t caught on yet. All he ever earned were annoyed looks when he used it – except from Cas, who just let him go on with it.

Dean took a tissue out of his leather jacket’s pocket and swiped his blade clean from space monster goo.

‘Let’s get out of here; back to the ship,’ he said and Castiel followed him.

His spaceship was his most beloved, his precious. She was far from being the newest model – a classic, as Dean liked to point out – and most of her parts had already seen better days, but for no other vehicle designed to travel in outer space he would trade his Baby.

After he had left his previous life, she had not only become his solely mean of transportation, but also his home. Though the flight deck wasn’t very roomy – it only offered space for a maximum of five people in a sitting position – he used to sleep in it quite often.

During the times in between jobs he liked to carefully wash his Baby clean from stardust and gently polish the black coating until it was shiny like the suns of other solar systems that were blinking in the distance.

Castiel didn’t help him and Dean didn’t want anyone to give him a hand with that. It was like meditation for him, relaxing and inspiring at once. His friend would rather look into the mysteries of the universe that – for him – were waiting around every corner. Though they both had been travelling together for a few years now, the simplest things still used to marvel Cas. He was so out of this world, literally, that Dean sometimes wondered whether he could cope on his own if the circumstances required it.

 

*

 

As they entered the bar in the evening, after Dean had taken a shower and changed his clothes for something less bloodstained, the crowd inside was in turmoil, discussing the news that had just arrived from the neighboring planet.

Dean signaled the barkeeper to provide him with a glass of whiskey, not even asking Cas for his preferred drink as he knew that Cas hardly consumed any beverages. After receiving his glass and paying what he was due, they headed for an unoccupied table near the exit and sat down.

‘What’s all this fuss about?’ Dean said, not expecting Cas to answer his question.

‘From what I have gathered, it is about the Men of Lettuce having carried out a mission on the planet closest to this one,’ he remarked anyway.

Dean choked over his drink, a few drops running down his chin.

‘The Men of Lettuce have been where? Do they have left already or are they still nearby?’

‘I haven’t been able to collect that information yet,’ Cas stated.

That was certainly not good. It was, actually, really bad.

Dean turned around to the table behind him and as he was sure that the people there were discussing the dominating issue as well, he interrupted their heated palaver.  
‘’scuse me, but what exactly happened there, involving the Men of Lettuce?’

‘Uh, they just came, with a whole armada of ships and made the native population of space vampires go extinct in an instant,’ one of the men explained to him.

‘How did they do that?’ Dean continued asking.

‘Hell, how would I know? They just came, saw and conquered…well, exterminated. Who knows what special weaponry they have up their sleeves.’

‘Huh…well, anyhow, thanks for the input,’ he said and turned around on his seat to face Castiel again.

‘We should go,’ Dean said and emptied his glass.

As they were outside Cas held him by the arm to stop him and said, ‘Do you think your brother was with them as well?’

‘I don’t know…and I’m not eager to find out.’

They got onto the ship and left the planet.

 

*

 

Sam Winchester walked his way through the Men of Lettuce headquarters, which were located in an underground bunker, in order to report to his superior that the mission had been successful. To be precise, it was more of an underground capital than just a bunker. Hundreds of Men and Women of Lettuce worked and lived beneath the planet’s surface.

The commander had his back turned on the doorway, studying a map of the Purgatory area of the galaxy. There, the MoL had already markedly decimated the leviathans with a sophisticated potion based on borage. After prolonged experimenting they had finally come to the result that agents in the herb caused those monsters to suffer from terrible pain.

‘Sir,’ Sam said as the commander didn’t appear to have noticed his arrival.

‘Ah, Sam. Tell me, how did it go?’ he spoke.

‘Perfectly well, sir. The vampire population on Big Max 2 is extinct.’

‘Excellent,’ the superior said, ‘now come here, my son. I have to talk with you about something.’

Sam wasn’t exactly his son, but his grandson. Henry Winchester, his commander in chief, was his paternal grandfather, even though he didn’t look like that. Almost fifty years ago Henry had volunteered to take part in a cryopreservation experiment the MoL had launched to study the possibility to store reserve soldiers in times of abundance and to be able to use stock reinforcement when required.

Four years ago they had decided to revive Henry in order to provide aspiring Sam Winchester with a new mentor after his father’s death. Together they looked like brothers, being not many years apart, considering their physical age. Yet, calculating with Henry’s actual age, he was already in his eighties.

Also, Henry was to him what he was supposed to be – a father figure and a teacher. Besides, Sam already had a brother. Although Dean had left years ago, he still loved him and wouldn’t accept anyone to replace him.


	2. Chapter 2

Dean was a dedicated hunter. The job didn’t pay well, but it was enough to maintain his restless and modest lifestyle.

The galaxy was full of monsters that posed as a threat to humanity. Space vampires, leviathans, shapeshifters and others were considered the scum of the universe. It was perfectly accepted, even desired for them to be wiped off the surface of every planet.

As humanity had begun to spread out over the galaxy, the monsters, which nobody but a few scientists had cared about before, became a serious problem. The concern grew even more when the more intelligent species started to loot and travel by spacecraft themselves. That was also how terms like ‘space vampire’ were coined – they didn’t actually live in space, but transferred their nests from planet to planet.

Dean, certainly, was not the only hunter in the galaxy. There were others like him; rough guys, never flinching from any monster they encountered. Anyway, they weren’t regarded as heroes; they just did the dirty work nobody else would do.

The Men of Lettuce hunted space monsters as well. Yet, they did not only kill them, but collect specimens to examine them. The research carried out on the imprisoned beings was actually torture. Dean considered it inhumane and therefore was execrated among the MoL. However, that was just one of the many things why Dean Winchester wasn’t exactly appreciated by the members of the organization. He was born and raised into the Men of Lettuce, but his upbringing hadn’t quite turned out as planned. As John and Mary Winchester’s first son he was met with high expectations, but he soon started to rebel against the MoL’s education program and the values established within the organization.

Dean had trouble with authority, he hated working out and above all that he enjoyed an unhealthy diet. Men of Lettuce were supposed to treat their body with only the best, most nutritious food. They were so fanatically healthy, they had even named themselves after fuckin’ salad.

Dean liked burgers. Red meat; white bread, certainly lacking roughage; his onion rings never not fried.

And pie… Pie was the most pleasurable thing in the whole wide galaxy…or, at least, it tied with sex.

Sex was one of those other things he enjoyed, regularly. The women in the galaxy loved a bad boy like he was one. Not only was Dean astonishingly handsome; he also had that ‘I do whatever I want and if you don’t like it you can go fuck yourself’-attitude, and with his knee-weakening charm one became putty in his hands. That would most definitely work on men too, given that they had at least the slightest interest in other men. Yet, Dean wouldn’t use his powers to get one into bed. However, making men melt through his appeal came in handy from time to time.

 

*

 

‘I’ve heard that you are planning on asking Jessica Moore to marry her,’ Henry Winchester said, an earnest expression on his face.

‘Uh, well…yes, sir. However, I certainly wouldn’t have put anything into action without consulting you first,’ Sam assured him.

‘I’m pleased to hear that.’

‘So, what do you think?’ Sam asked carefully.

‘Jessica is a nice young woman. Beautiful, intelligent, healthy. I’ve also sought advice concerning that issue and…’

Sam was visibly nervous and formed his sweaty palms into fists.

‘…and I’m happy to tell you that your intentions have been approved by everyone. Well, you obviously need the acceptance of one last person.’

‘Who would that be, if you allow me asking?’

‘Jessica, of course,’ Henry said and smiled.

Sam was over the moon. He jumped at his grandfather and hugged him, before pulling back awkwardly. Men of Lettuce weren’t supposed to hug their superiors, regardless of their relation.

Sam cleared his throat. ‘I’m sorry, sir.’

‘Never mind, son. I can understand that you are thrilled over the news.’

‘I am! Thank you so much,’ he said happily.

‘Now, I would suggest that you get your permission.’

‘Yes, thank you, sir,’ Sam said and made himself ready to leave.

‘Very well. Good luck!’

 

*

 

‘So, that was fun,’ Dean said as he put his jeans back on.

‘Will you be staying here till tomorrow? We could have a round two after I’m finished with work.’

The woman on the bed was still tangled with the sheets, her upper back resting on a pile of pillows. She had dark-brown hair, a decent pair of boobs and had fallen for Dean from the second she had seen him in the bar next to the motel. They skipped drinks and went straight to the motel.

‘Sorry, leaving early in the morning,’ Dean said as he collected his shirt and jacket from the floor.

‘Pity. Well, I hope to see your nice ass around here again sometime.’

‘Sure,’ he said, throwing a smirk at her, and left the room.

Dean went to the other end of the complex and reached for the key in his jacket pocket. He hadn’t mentioned to her that he was staying at the same motel at which they had performed their unrestrained activities. There was no need for her to know.

As Dean opened the door, he saw that the TV was on, currently showing a documentary about wildcats.

‘Have you ever been to Kansas, Dean?’ he heard Castiel ask, who was sitting on the end of the bed, his eyes far too close to the screen.

‘Which one?’ Dean responded.

‘Those animals live on number 6.’

‘I don’t know, maybe…too many planets out there.’

‘It would make me very happy if we could go to Kansas 6 sometime so I can watch the native fauna.’

‘Yeah, okay, someday.’

That was enough agreement for Cas, so he smiled, continuously facing the bright light of the television.

‘Could you turn that off now. I need to sleep.’

Cas obeyed and lifted himself from the bed to make room for Dean. Castiel himself didn’t sleep; he rather lowered his perception mode. If anyone disturbed them, Cas would instantly be wide awake. He also didn’t lie down for his resting state, but he would sit with his eyes closed.

In the beginning of their companionship it had Dean freaked out, so that he hadn’t allowed Cas to stay in his room with him. Castiel hadn’t minded that he had to spend the night in the ship instead. However, Dean had gradually gotten used to his regeneration procedure and it also felt good to know someone being by his side.

Cas sat already on the chair, fully dressed and it looked like he was in trance, when Dean stripped down to his underwear and made himself comfortable under the blanket. He wasn’t shy around Cas. Why would he be? The alien Castiel was his best and sole friend, and also the only family he had.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. There was still his brother Sam, who he had left when he found his way out of the Men of Lettuce. The guilt had almost killed him, leaving his little brother alone with those fanatics. Yet, he had come to the realization that his escape had been the right decision. Sam on the other hand had seemed to be happy with his predestined task. Although his relationship with their father hadn’t been better than Dean’s, he was sure that John would take care of his son – or at least he hoped so. A few years ago Dean had heard rumors about John Winchester’s death, which had worried him as much as it had been a relief. Dean had no idea who they would have picked as Sam’s new familiar.


	3. Chapter 3

‘Ladies and gentlemen, may I please you to raise your glasses to Jessica Moore and Sam Winchester, who are setting relationship goals for us continuously higher,’ Brady announced to the group that had gathered to celebrate the engagement.

‘To Jess and Sam,’ the others agreed in unison and then everyone took a sip from their green smoothies. Everywhere else in the galaxy those occasions were used, of course, to be celebrated with fancier, alcoholic drinks, but booze was strictly forbidden among the Men of Lettuce.

‘Now, we’d like to hear a speech from the happy couple. Would you be so nice, Sam?’ Brady continued.

Sam let out a sigh. ‘Is that really necessary?’

‘Yes, it is. Now come on,’ Brady answered, gesturing the other friends to agree with him and they started to clap their hands in encouragement.

‘Fine, I’ll do it,’ Sam said and kissed his fiancée before he stood up from his seat.

‘So, thanks y’all for being here with us,’ he began and turned to face Jessica, ‘I’d like to use the opportunity to tell you, Jess, how much I love you. Thank you for being the kind and loving person that you are. I can’t imagine a life without you…’

His voiced cracked a little and he had trouble holding back the tears that had started to fill his eyes. The group responded to that with an empathizing ‘awww…’.

‘I love you too, Sam,’ Jessica finally said as Sam just kept staring into her eyes and pulled him down into kiss.

Their friends cheered and Sam cleared his throat to say ‘the next round is on us.’

After he had sat down again, Sam leaned over to Jess and began to whisper in her ear.

‘I wish my mom would have lived to meet you. I’m sure she would have loved you.’

‘Oh, Sam. I wish I could’ve met her too,’ she responded and stroked his hair.

Sam hadn’t actually gotten to know his mother himself. Mary Winchester had died when he was still a baby. He wasn’t very much aware about the circumstances of her death, but he knew that it had involved a fire in some way.

He always used to beg his older brother to tell him stories about her. Dean had only been four years old himself when she passed, but Sam was hungry for every detail his brother could remember. Mary had been a loving and caring person, just like Jess, but she also had had a strong will and wouldn’t give in so easily. Above all that she would have given anything for her family.

 

*

 

‘You son of a bitch!’ Dean shouted and fell to his knees.

The shapeshifter had put a bullet in his left shoulder.

‘You want one too?’ he said as he noticed Castiel behind him.

‘No, thank you,’ Cas replied, which caused the shapeshifter to pull the trigger.

The bullet hit Castiel’s stomach but it didn’t seem to bother him.

‘You’re not a human,’ the shapeshifter observed.

‘No, I’m not,’ Cas answered as he stepped closer to hold the shapeshifter tight by his jacket and pushed a silver blade trough his heart.

‘That was close. Thanks, man,’ Dean said as the monster sunk to the ground, dead.

Cas rushed forward and brought one hand to the wounded shoulder, the other to Dean’s chest.

‘Let me fix that,’ Cas said and firmly pressed the hand on the bullet wound.

Although he tried to hold it back, Dean cried out in pain, before Cas let go of his shoulder, a bullet in his hand and with no sign of injury left.

‘Fuck, Cas, that hurt,’ Dean said, rubbing his shoulder.

‘And it’d still do if it weren’t for me.’

‘Touché. Thank you, Cas.’

‘You’re welcome,’ he said and helped Dean up.

‘Let’s go have dinner. I need a burger and pie after this.’

 

*

 

‘Sam, I have something to tell you,’ Jess said as he walked her home.

‘That you love me and your dreams come true now that I’m going to be your husband?’ Sam replied with a grin on his face.

‘I don’t have to tell you, you already know that.’ She smiled at him, then her expression sobered.

‘I have been chosen to take part in a project they are currently working on,’ she continued.

‘So, what is it?’ Sam asked.

‘They couldn’t tell me any details before I’m getting down to it, but it must be very important as people from very high up seem to be involved. The volunteers they were looking for had to pass a very meticulous medical examination.’

‘Why haven’t you told me about that before?’ Sam was slightly unsettled.

‘I thought if I don’t pass, there’d be no need to mention it anyway. However, as I told you before, I’m one of the lucky chosen ones,’ she happily concluded.

‘Well, then I think it’s time to congratulate you. I’m so proud of you, Jess. I love you,’ he said and took her into a tight embrace.

‘And I love you. There’s going to be a bright future for us,’ she spoke optimistically, looking up to his face.

 

*

 

They sat in a booth in the back of the diner and Dean was shoving a big slice of pecan pie into his mouth. Before dessert both, Dean and Cas, had eaten their burgers with relish. They had tasted remarkably delicious. Maybe it was the grass the cows got to feed on this planet that made the beef so perfect. Dean didn’t know, but he would definitely be coming back for those revelations of a burger.

Cas had agreed with him on that. Still, that wasn’t the reason his friend had tucked right away five of those culinary delights. Dean didn’t quite understand how Castiel’s metabolism worked. There were times when he didn’t eat at all and then, sometimes, he consumed such unbelievable loads of food that they would bring an ordinary person’s belly to burst.

‘I guess we’re staying here for the night. I’m too tired to fly my Baby any further tonight. The job on Pak Choy has to wait,’ Dean said with a full mouth, still munching his pie.

Castiel nodded in agreement. What else was he supposed to do? He would go wherever and whenever Dean wanted him to.

Suddenly, Dean jerked his body and turned his head towards the window.

‘Dean?’

‘I-I could swear I just saw something from the corner of my eye,’ he answered, a little confused.

‘What did you see, Dean?’

‘I thought someone was watching us from outside.’

He was staring at the window, but all he could see was his own reflection. He leaned forward, with his nose and forehead almost resting against the cold surface. In order to shield his eyes from the disturbing light, he raised his hands to the sides of his face, still holding the pie fork in the right.

‘Do you see something?’

‘No, nothing there. Must’ve been mistaken. Maybe it was just my own image that had me startled.’

‘Are you sure you are okay, Dean? Perhaps, I wasn’t able to heal you properly and…’

‘Cas, it’s nothing about that. I think I’m just tired.’

 

*

 

As they walked outside the diner, a slender figure approached them from the dark. Dean couldn’t see the person’s face, which was hidden under a hood.

‘Meet me in the alley next to the diner,’ the stranger hissed and disappeared around the corner.

‘What the hell?’ Dean stopped, puzzled.

‘Do you think we should follow?’ Cas asked him.

‘I follow, you stay behind and don’t come after me unless I say so,’ Dean said, fishing out the gun of his pocket and released the safety catch.

‘Be careful, Dean. If I hear something going wrong I’ll be there instantly.’

Dean patted Castiel on the shoulder and went up to where the mystery man had gone.

He went slowly down the alleyway. A ratcoon – a crossbreed of a rat and a raccoon – jumped down from a trashcan. Dean grimaced in disgust; he hated those bastards. When humanity had moved out to other planets, all kinds of creatures had come with them and, depending on the new environment, interbreeds had developed. Some of the nicer ones were butterbees which had emerged from butterflies and bees. They were bigger than ordinary bees, had colorful wings and produced the finest honey in the galaxy. Cas loved them and had once persuaded Dean to take part in a beekeeping workshop. He had earned the most stings of all participants and had sworn like a trooper all day long, but in the end it had been worth it because Dean had never seen Castiel happier before.

‘Are you Dean Winchester?’ he heard someone speak from the dark.

‘Who wants to know?’ Dean said and pointed the gun in the direction the voice had come from.

‘I know that you are a Man of Lettuce,’ the stranger continued, ignoring Dean’s counter-question.

‘And who says that?’ Dean kept on going with hedging around.

‘I have a lot of information concerning the Men of Lettuce.’

‘Why would I care?’ Dean was gradually getting annoyed by this game.

‘Your brother is still with them.’

That was enough for Dean. He quickly stepped forward and pushed the stranger against the nearest wall, pressing his gun to the shorter man’s jaw. ‘What do you know about my brother?’

‘Ah, please don’t shoot me, please don’t shoot me!’ the man cried out, whining under Dean’s tight grip.

‘Dean!’ Castiel suddenly stood there.

‘Cas, I’ve told you to stay behind unless I said so.’

‘I heard someone scream. I thought you were in trouble.’

‘The only one in trouble is this guy here,’ Dean said, pushing the barrel harder to the man’s face.

‘Okay, okay. I’ll talk… My name is Garth. I’m a hunter too and I know a lot about the Men of Lettuce and what they’re up to.’

‘And why would you tell me?’ Dean asked.

‘I thought you might be interested.’

Dean let go of him. ‘How do I know you’re not fucking with me?’

Cas raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding.

‘Listen, I suggest we’re going to my place where we can talk safely. There are really important things you need to know,’ Garth said

‘How do I know we can trust you?’ Dean asked.

‘You don’t. You just have to.’

Dean looked at Cas who was frowning at Garth. After a moment he resumed, ‘Fine. But keep in mind: any shenanigans and you’re dead.’

‘Understood. Now follow me,’ Garth told him.


	4. Chapter 4

‘Your fiancée’s career is really taking off, so I’ve heard,’ Henry Winchester said.

‘Yes, it is, sir. I’m a lucky man to be part of her life,’ Sam assented.

‘Your children are going to be excellent Men and Women of Lettuce.’

Sam blushed upon that. They weren’t even married yet, and his grandfather was already talking about kids.

‘Erm, I hope so…thank you, sir.’

‘Believe me, son, I’m certain of that,’ Henry assured him.

Sam hadn’t really thought about that matter before. Of course he wanted children…just, everything in order.

‘Any news from Purgatory?’ the commander asked.

‘The leviathans are already extinct on three planets. The science department is also making progress with the maximum range of the borage bombs.’

‘Pleased to hear that. Nice work, Sam.’

‘It’s the achievement of every Woman and Man of Lettuce involved, sir, not just mine,’ Sam replied.

‘Always so modest. I like that about you.’

‘Thank you, sir,’ Sam said, feeling the redness return to his cheeks.

 

*

 

Garth’s place happened to be a trailer, which was actual garbage, and it had turned out to be located on an asteroid. The interior was filled with all kinds of technical stuff, from top to bottom. The three of them barely fit in there all at once, which was why they sat cramped in a small circle, almost touching each other’s knees.

‘Garth, is there even any oxygen in here?’ Dean said, red skin and sweating a little.

‘You might have noticed the atmosphere creator outside, Dean. We would have collapsed and probably already frozen to death if I didn’t own such a thing,’ Garth responded sarcastically.

‘That was not what I was talking about…’ Dean replied, stretching the collar of his shirt with his index finger.

‘Never mind. I suggest that you start talking so we can leave here soon again,’ he resumed.

‘Alright. I’m not really sure how much you know about the Men of Lettuce’s plans, but as you used to be one of them for quite a while, I assume that you know at least a few things.’

‘Well, they are…healthy. And strict…and megalomaniacs,’ Dean stumbled.

‘Yeah, but are you aware of how far their megalomania goes?’

Dean threw a perplexed look at him.

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Their ultimate goal. You know, minding their health and fitness is not just a hobby for them. It’s also not only about being superior soldiers. The word I’m pointing out here is ‘superior’.’

Garth paused to let the information get soaked up.

‘Men and Women of Lettuce can’t just be with each other as they wish…by that I mean romantically involved. If they want to get married, have kids, their medical and genetic status has to match in certain ways in order to guarantee the best possible offspring.’

‘What? I haven’t heard that before. Did they introduce this policy in the six years after I’ve left?’

‘No, they’ve been doing that for decades. They probably haven’t told you because they’ve always considered you an abomination and knew that you were going to leave them sooner or later.’

That hurt. Dean knew that he was a persona non grata for the MoL, but hearing it this way, so absolutely not sugarcoated, made his heart twitch. Castiel noticed that and gave Dean’s thigh a soothing squeeze.

Garth continued his explanation. ‘What I’m trying to say is: the Men of Lettuce are trying to breed the perfect human.’

 

*

 

‘So, how’s it been so far?’ Sam asked, before he brought a fork full of soybeans to his mouth.

‘Great. It’s very interesting,’ Jessica answered. Sam waited for her to continue, but she just went on with eating her lunch.

‘Wow, spare the details!’ he finally said.

‘Sam, you know that I’m not allowed to talk with you about the project. It’s classified.’

‘Yeah, I understand. I’m just curious.’ He looked down on his plate, shoving around the broccoli.

‘You’ll find out someday,’ she said and smiled at him, trying to cheer him up.

‘There’s something else I wanted to ask you,’ he resumed after a moment of silence.

Jessica threw an expectant look at him.

‘How…erm, have you…I mean…kids?’

‘You know that wasn’t a proper question?’ she said and chuckled.

‘Please, don’t make fun of me. I just have realized that we haven’t talked about that before.’

‘About having kids? Don’t you want any?’ She had an earnest look on her face.

‘Of course I do!’ he exclaimed, then he lowered his voice again, ‘but I think we should take our time.’

Jessica’s expression had brightened up.

‘I want kids too – a whole bunch of them, but I agree that we shouldn’t rush things.’

Sam sharply exhaled in relief.

‘Besides, I have to wait until the end of the project anyway,’ she explained.

Sam leaned forward to press a chaste kiss on her lips.

‘I’m glad we’ve talked that through,’ he said, secretly cursing his grandfather for having made him uneasy about it.

 

*

 

‘Woawoawoa! Breed the perfect human? Why?’ Dean was baffled.

‘Power. It’s as simple as that.’

‘Don’t they have weapons to consolidate their power?’ Castiel meddled in the conversation.

‘What about the Men of Lettuce being the ultimate weapons themselves?’ Garth suggested.

‘That’s just sick,’ Dean said, shaking his head in disbelief.

‘There’s more,’ Garth resumed.

Dean sighed. ‘Go on.’

‘You know that they don’t just kill space monsters. They also imprison some of them.’

‘Yeah. They torture them in order to find more efficient ways to kill them,’ Dean stated.

‘That’s only half the truth,’ Garth rectified. ‘The Men of Lettuce study them, their special abilities, in order to acquire them for themselves.’

‘What?’ Dean exclaimed.

‘I believe, what he is trying to say, is that the Men of Lettuce want to upgrade their own bodies with the special powers of space monsters,’ Castiel elucidated.

‘Exactly,’ Garth said.

Dean was speechless.

‘How…how can they…how is that even possible,’ he eventually said.

‘I don’t know _how_ they do it, but I’ve found out that they have elaborated a way to extract those abilities and are now working on how to transfer them to the human body.’

After a while Dean began to speak. ‘What do you want us to do about that?’

‘Well, you know the Men of Lettuce. You have family within them…’

‘Only my brother,’ Dean clarified.

‘And your grandfather, Henry Winchester.’

‘My what? The one that’s been on ice for decades?’

Garth nodded.

‘I thought you might be able to gather more information, infiltrate them, destroy the Men of Lettuce from the inside.’

‘No way! We won’t do that.’

‘I was only talking about you, Dean. Your friend can help, of course…who is this guy anyway? He seems a bit odd.’

Cas didn’t react to that. He didn’t take it as an insult; he knew that he was different and he liked it.


	5. Chapter 5

_Three years previously…_

 

As Dean awoke he found himself lying in the back of the flight deck, the left side of his face smeared with dried blood. The last thing he knew was that a comet had almost hit his ship. The radar system must have been malfunctioning again – he definitely needed to buy a new one, or at least one that didn’t act up from time to time. He exited the ship, not worrying about the atmospheric circumstances, since, despite all systems being down, he was still alive.

He had crashed in a meadow, several flowers scattered in between the grass, trees to be discerned in the distance. ‘Where the hell am I?’ he said to himself.

Dean felt dizzy. He was sure that it wasn’t because of the lack of oxygen or anything, but the wound on his temple. After thinking through his options, he decided to try and call for help. Although the radio seemed to be intact and working, no one answered. He must have landed very far off everything to not be able to reach anyone. Anyway, he couldn’t bring the engines to start, which meant that he was stuck here. Wherever _here_ was…

Dean made up his mind to go and look for help. He had no idea whether this planet was even inhabited.

After a while – Dean had walked into a forest where it was much cooler than out in the open space  – he reached a creek and kneeled down to drink some water and wash the blood off his face. Then he heard a branch crack. He hurried up on his feet again and whipped out his gun. There was nothing to be seen besides trees. He could only hope that there didn’t live any carnivorous animals to which the taste of human flesh would be a surprising sensation.

Dean decided to follow the creek downstream. If there happened to be any civilized population, it would certainly have settled by the water.

The forest thinned out and the sunlight decreased. Dean was exhausted, so he decided to prepare himself for the night. He collected leaves to serve him as pillow, and a few branches to make a campfire. It would keep him warm and hopefully any predators away.

After he had been asleep for a while, something alarmed him and he jerked into an upright position, placing a finger on the trigger of his gun. As he turned his head, he noticed someone sitting by his side, staring at him. When his sleep-blurred vision cleared, he could see in the glow of the slowly dying fire that it was a dark-haired man with piercing blue eyes. He was wearing snow-white loose-fitting shirt and pants, but no shoes. More importantly, he seemed to be unarmed.

Dean slowly put the gun down and slightly raised his hands, the empty palms directed at the stranger, in order to signal him his peaceful intentions. The man’s eyes wandered to the wound on Dean’s temple, then he cautiously placed his right hand on it. Dean shivered upon the gentle touch. After a second the pain had disappeared and as the man had withdrawn his hand, Dean brought his own fingers to his temple to find any sign of injury gone.

‘How did you do that?’ Dean broke the silence. The man didn’t answer.

‘My name is Dean,’ he said while gesturing towards his chest, ‘my ship crashed here and I have absolutely no idea where I am.’ Blue eyes kept staring at him.

‘Do you understand me? Can you talk?’ The man shyly looked away.

‘Hey, I won’t hurt you. I just need help,’ Dean said and touched a white-clothed shoulder. The blue gaze hit him again. ‘Please,’ he begged.

As Dean had almost abandoned all hope that he would ever get anything out of the stranger, he suddenly heard a throaty voice speak. ‘Castiel.’

‘What did you just say?’ Dean asked in astonishment.

‘Castiel, my name.’

‘Oh… Hi Castiel, I’m glad to hear you talk. Could you please tell me what planet this is?’ Dean was relieved that his monologue had converted into a dialogue.

‘I’m not sure. Chuck used to call it H34V3N…’ Castiel answered.

‘H34…what? Who is Chuck?’ Dean was confused.

‘Chuck is our father,’ the man in white explained.

‘So, your dad and siblings are around here too?’

Castiel nodded.

‘Could you bring me to them? Maybe they can help me fix my ship.’

 

*

 

Castiel had never seen such beauty. Although any of his brothers could have possibly looked like the man lying in the grass, he could tell that he was not from here. Apart from the fact that Castiel knew all his brothers and sisters, the man’s apparel was nothing like he had ever seen. As he sniffed the brown worn piece of clothing along the sleeve, he noticed that it was unlike anything he had smelled before. He extensively viewed the dark-blonde hair, the freckles, the nose, the lips – he wanted to memorize everything to never forget it.

After a while the man tensed in his sleep and then he was awake all of a sudden, which allowed Castiel to admire green eyes that shimmered in the flickering light.

When the man had spoken, Castiel did not answer because he wanted to keep up an unswayed observation. As he felt desperation grow with his vis-à-vis, he decided to finally talk.

Castiel agreed to bring the man called Dean to his kin. What he hadn’t expected was that they considered him an intruder and wanted to get rid of him. Castiel wouldn’t allow that, so he helped Dean escape their grasp and collect a few items that he could use to fix his ship.

 

*

 

Dean still had no idea who this mysterious Chuck was. So far, he had found out that Castiel’s siblings were equally white dressed lunatics who intended to kill him.

Castiel stayed by his side until Dean had brought his Baby to work again. When he had thanked him and made himself ready to say goodbye, Dean met sad blue puppy eyes.

‘Hey, are you going to be okay?’ Dean asked.

‘I could imagine that my brothers are planning on taking revenge as I’ve helped you…,’ Castiel confessed his sorrows.

‘You mean they want to see you dead too?’

Castiel shrugged his shoulders, looking down at his bare feet.

Dean bit his lower lip, then he suggested ‘you could come with me if you want.’

Castiel threw a puzzled look at him, silently questioning the seriousness of Dean’s proposal.

‘Now, what do you say?’

He meant it, he really meant it! ‘Yes, Dean, I want to come with you,’ Castiel said with a wide smile on his face.

 

*

 

First of all he needed to find Cas – that’s what Dean would call him from now on – new clothes, and definitely a pair of shoes. After what had seemed to be an eternity of rooting in a thrift shop, Cas had fallen in love with a dark-blue suit, tie and trench coat. Although Dean didn’t really approve, he decided to give in and not try to talk his new friend out of it.

Dean had insisted on buying alternative outfits to allow Cas to change, but he soon realized that the additional purchase had been unnecessary, as Cas didn’t sweat or get dirty and develop the need for fresh clothes.

Apart from the fact that Castiel was able to heal other people, though he had only witnessed this miracle being performed on himself, Dean had found out that Cas could make his own wounds disappear as well. Dean had learned of that in a dramatic situation when a spacepire had ripped his friend’s throat apart. He was certain that Cas wouldn’t make it, but after he had his shirt pressed against the injury to stop it from bleeding for quite a while, he realized that Cas was looking at him, patiently waiting for Dean to eventually let go. After that he had been mad at Castiel for not telling him sooner that he was okay and that he had been worried and desperately trying to save his life for no reason.

Dean couldn’t define the moment they had become best friends, but he thought that it had happened as early as when they had saved each other’s life.

 

*

 

Cas had been fascinated by Dean from the very beginning. Everything about him was so new and different and all he had ever known before was conformity. He still used every moment to study this human. Castiel was interested in other representatives of mankind as well, but Dean had been the very first he met and he would always be the archetype.

In some way, Cas loved Dean. He was the most beautiful thing Castiel had ever seen – to him, Dean Winchester was perfection. Although, he had to realize that he didn’t quite understand what love actually was. The only one he’d ever loved before in his life was his father, Chuck, but that was part of his blueprint; all of Chuck’s children were designed to love him.

Still, he would do anything for Dean and he was quite certain that this was the essence of how love was defined.


	6. Chapter 6

Dean ignored Garth’s comment concerning Cas.

‘Garth, tell me, how do know all this?’

‘Well, I have my sources,’ Garth answered proudly.

‘And those are…?’ Dean wanted to have clarified.

‘Dean, listen, I’m sure that you can do it – save the galaxy from the Men of Lettuce,’ Garth ensured him.

‘They want to grow themselves some superpowers, so what? We are not sure this means that they are going to be a threat for the galaxy.’

Dean knew that Garth was right, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself.

‘They are megalomaniacs, you said it yourself, Dean,’ Castiel pointed out, ‘and you were always certain that something big is going to happen. The Men of Lettuce aren’t very popular among the people of the galaxy and their attitude towards them has a reason. They know that too much power can backfire on one’s judgement.’

‘I’m starting to like your friend,’ Garth said.

Dean threw a distressed look at him. He didn’t know how to respond to Castiel’s conclusions without agreeing.

‘I don’t think we can do that… I mean, it’s only the three of us, right?’ He couldn’t avoid addressing Garth’s plans any longer.

‘Of course we can. My informant tells me that your brother – despite you running off – is still on your side. I’m sure you can bring him to help as well, which would make us four. Then we have my source inside the Men of Lettuce…’

Dean interrupted him. ‘You have contacted them.’

‘Actually, it was me who has been contacted. We have someone within the organization who wants to break them too.’

‘Please tell me they are more than one…’

‘No, just one,’ Garth answered honestly.

‘Okay, so we are five, given that we can get Sam on board, and I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I mean, I haven’t seen him in six years…what if he’s changed?’

‘At least we have to try, Dean,’ Cas reminded him.

Yes, they had to, whether Dean liked it or not.

 

*

 

‘How do you feel? Any nausea, headache, dizziness, other complaints?’ the woman in the lab coat asked.

‘No, I’m feeling perfectly fine,’ Jess answered.

‘Excellent. Then I suggest we call it a night and try again tomorrow with a higher dose of borage.’

‘Fine. Good night then, Dr. Masters.’

‘See you, Jessica.’

Jess hurried to her locker to grab her things. She was already late for her date with Sam.

When she arrived at his place, he was lying on the sofa, holding a book above his head.

‘Hey, sorry I’m late, babe. We just had to finish some things back at work,’ she apologized.

‘It’s okay.’ He sat up and put the book down. ‘Come here and kiss your fiancé who happens to be the most patient man in the world,’ Sam said, pulling her down on the sofa by her wrist. They shared a long kiss, then Jessica began to speak.

‘You know what, I’ll compensate you for your long wait,’ she said with excitement in her voice.

‘Well, that sounds alluring,’ he almost whispered against her neck and started kissing her again.

‘That was actually not what I meant,’ Jess said as she realized that Sam had misinterpreted her.

‘What did you mean then?’ he asked, slight disappointment swinging with the question.

‘You always wanted to know about the project I’m working on. If I show you something, will you keep your mouth shut about it?’

That had him perplexed. ‘Jess, why do you even ask? You know that your secrets are safe with me.’

She smiled and continued. ‘Okay, then watch this,’ Jessica said, grabbing his arm.

Sam concentrated on her hand touching him, then his eyes wandered up to her face and he gasped as he saw her blonde locks change into his straight brown hair.

‘H-how…how did y-you do that?’ he stammered.

‘I got the shapeshifting ability of the leviathans implanted. Well, I cannot change my appearance completely, but at least some of it,’ she explained.

‘Isn’t that dangerous? I mean, does it affect your health in some way?’ Sam asked worriedly.

‘As far as we’ve tested it, no. They still have to check if I haven’t developed any sensitivity to borage, but they are optimistic to have erased all the flaws from the genetic code.’

Sam didn’t appear to be entirely convinced.

‘Hey,’ she said, taking his face into her hands, ‘they know what they’re doing. I’ll be fine.’ Jessica then placed a kiss on his forehead.

‘Yeah, I know…’ Sam pretended to agree.

 

*

 

Dean was holding a glass of whiskey in his hand, leaning against the cabin wall and peeking out of the window. The planet’s surface was mostly covered with trees and lakes.

Castiel sat at the table, hands resting on the top, and watched Dean, who was now taking another sip, then met his eyes. Dean instantly looked away and emptied the glass.

‘When did you say your informant wanted to meet us here?’

‘Be patient, Dean,’ said Garth, who was busy stirring with some tool in a pile of electric scrap.

‘I’m still not convinced that this is a good idea,’ Dean stated his concern.

‘In case it’s a trap, I’m here to protect you,’ Cas, who had left his seat and was now approaching Dean, assured him.

‘Yeah…just remember, I’ll do the talking.’

‘As always, Dean.’ Cas gave his arm an encouraging squeeze.

Dean withdrew himself from the touch and annoyedly addressed Garth.

‘What the hell are you doing with the trash?’

‘It’s not trash, it’s a robot. I’ve built it myself.’

‘Obviously.’

‘His name is Mr. Fizzles.’

‘That’s the stupidest name for a robot I’ve ever heard,’ Dean remarked.

‘And I’m sure you’ve expended yourself in the process of coming up with a name for your ship,’ Garth retorted.

‘Hey, no one disses my Baby…’

‘Guys,’ Castiel interrupted their quarrel, ‘I think someone just arrived outside the cabin.’

Dean and Garth fell silent and looked up to Cas. A moment later they heard a knock on the door.

‘That won’t be necessary,’ Garth told Dean as he was about to pull out his gun.

‘Come in,’ he called.

The door swung open and a dark-haired woman entered the cabin.

 

*

 

Sam didn’t like the idea of his girlfriend, no, fiancée taking part in such experiments. Why would they even risk her health for that? He knew that nobody had forced her into the study, she volunteered. Still, knowing what it was all about made him uneasy. He had thought about seeking his grandfather’s advice, but by that he would reveal Jessica having disobeyed her confidentiality agreement. All of his friends were Men and Women of Lettuce as well, Jess didn’t share his worries and he didn’t want her to become unsettled; she was so proud of her achievement in being part of this.

He desperately realized that he had absolutely no one to talk; none of his friends, not Jess, not Henry. He was on his own with this. Never had he wanted his brother to be here as much as he did now. Dean had always been the one who he could consult, no matter what his problem was.

 

*

 

‘Hey guys, thanks for not starting the party without me,’ the woman with the wavy hair said.

Castiel didn’t understand what she was talking about, though he recognized her leather jacket which reminded him of Dean’s.

‘That’s Dr. Meg Masters, my Men of Lettuce contact,’ Garth explained.

Dean inspected her with wariness. There was something about that woman he didn’t quite like.

‘Dean Winchester, nice to finally meet you in person. I’ve heard stories about you…,’ she said, reaching out a hand for him to shake.

Dean hesitated for a second, then he took her hand in his. ‘They sure don’t live up to me,’ he commented.

‘I’m sure they do,’ she answered, ‘would be a pity if not.’

Then she turned her attention towards Garth.

‘Why don’t we sit and get straight to business?’

Garth gestured towards the table, the two hunters and the Woman of Lettuce each took one of the three seats, and Castiel placed himself behind Dean, so he faced Meg as well.

‘Dean, I can get you into the Men of Lettuce headquarters. I suggest that we don’t make a deal about your return. I’ll set up a meeting with you and your brother, so you can persuade him to join us.’

‘Dean, I won’t let you get in there all on your own. I’ll come with you,’ Cas spoke his first words since Dr. Masters’ arrival.

‘And who are you, fancy pants?’ she said, inspecting him from head to hips and up again, then she smirked. ‘I think we haven’t been introduced yet.’

‘That’s Cas. He’s with me,’ Dean said.

‘With you? Oh, what a shame…’ She shook her head in disappointment.

Dean irritatedly looked up to Cas, wildly gesturing his hands between them.

‘Wha-what? No, not in that way. We’re not, you know, _that’_ Dean clarified with embarrassment in his voice.

‘Oh, I’m lucky then,’ Med said, let her tongue slide over her teeth and bit her lower lip.

Cas graced her with a puzzled look.

It had occurred to Castiel that women, and some men too, had hit on him, but he never exactly knew what to make of that.

‘Could we get back to our main issue here, please,’ Dean reminded her.

‘Sure,’ Meg said, taking her eyes slowly off of Castiel again.

‘I’ll smuggle you into the bunker. Trust me, no one will notice you. You talk to your brother and then you make up some sappy cover story about how you missed him and the two of you wanted to reunite and so on.’

‘What are _you_ hoping to get out of this? I mean, why do you even want to do that. I don’t quite get your motives,’ Dean objected.

‘Dean, do you really think you are the only one within this organization to have some sense for morality and tend to question what the big guys preach from time to time? I, like you, think that a lot of stuff they’re doing is just wrong. We, and by that I mean all Men and Women of Lettuce, are still human beings with human hearts, human minds. Of course, a tendency towards cruelty has always been a trait of our kind too, but the experiments and torture are another chapter in this story. First of all things we need them to stop giving up their humanity. Having those space monster abilities would cease their status as human beings. Those powers would make them more, something way beyond mankind.’

That speech went straight to Castiel’s heart. Despite his own abilities and his difficulties with human interactions, he kind of identified as human himself after all. Whatever he actually was, he knew that his kind was capable of cruelty as well. He had experienced that when Dean first entered his life. It had made him realize that he was nothing better, nor lesser than the predominating species of the galaxy.

Dean reflected upon Meg’s arguments. ‘Why should we trust you?’

‘I told you this guy has some big unresolved trust issues,’ Garth remarked. Dean threw a look at him that indicated him to shut up.

‘You don’t have to do anything, Dean. Still, I believe that getting you back inside the Men of Lettuce is our best shot,’ Meg told him.

‘Fine. What about Cas? What’s the cover story for him supposed to be?’

Meg had to think about that for a while, then she resumed, ‘I’ll make him my personal assistant. Nobody will dare to ask any questions, I’m their superior.’

‘Dean?’ Castiel asked, wanting to hear his opinion.

After a moment he said, ‘Alright, get down to the details.’

Against his better judgement Dean had decided to agree on the plan. He knew it was probably a stupid idea, but damn, he wanted to see his little brother again.


	7. Chapter 7

Meg had managed to smuggle Dean into Sam’s apartment in the Men of Lettuce bunker. Dean vividly remembered this place from his upbringing. Here he had wasted so much time listening to the MoL education schedule, working out and being trained in handling all kinds of weapons. Well, the latter had turned out to not have been quite such a waste of time.

Dean had entered the bunker hiding in Meg’s ship. His Baby had to be left outside in the responsibility of Garth’s hands. Dean didn’t like the thought of that at all.

The rest had been a cakewalk. Meg had access to certain corridors that almost led right from the spaceport into Sam’s housing unit. All he had to do now was to wait until Sam came back from duty.

Time passed and he should by degrees come up with a plan on how to introduce his sudden return. Hiding behind the door and then jump out and yell ‘surprise!’ was clearly the wrong approach. Although he could be certain that Sam’s vascular system was all in perfect condition, he didn’t want to risk giving the kid a heart attack.

Therefore he turned on the lights in the living room and pushed another button to play some music. This would hint that someone was already there and at least limit the shock a little.

Then, after a while, he heard to door being opened and closed again.

 

*

 

When Sam finally got home after a long day, he heard music coming from the living room and as he turned around the corner he saw the lights being switched on as well.

Had he forgotten a date with Jess? He couldn’t recall anything and hoped she wouldn’t be mad at him for getting home late.

‘Hey babe, did we have plans for tonight? ‘cause I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything,’ he called into the living room.

‘I thought of it more as a surprise visit,’ a voice replied that was certainly not Jessica’s.

A second later a familiar face caught his eye. His brother stood there, in his living room, arms spread to welcome him into a hug. However, Sam didn’t take the invitation at first.

‘Dean, what…?’ Sam wasn’t able to form an actual question.

‘Aren’t you glad to see me?’ Dean asked.

‘Well, yeah, I mean…’ was all he could respond.

‘Then get your ass over here and let me squeeze some air out of your lungs,’ Dean commanded.

That caused Sam to finally take a few steps forward and fall into his brother’s arms to return the rib-crushing offer.

‘Wow, you got strong,’ Dean gasped after a while, breathing in heavily after Sam had let go of him again.

‘It’s so good to see you,’ Sam said, taking Dean back into his arms, embracing him not so tightly this time.

‘It’s good to see you too, soyboy,’ Dean replied.

‘Hey, don’t call me that.’ He pulled back, acting more offended than he actually was by that nickname.

‘Man, you have grown. You’re huge,’ Dean commented on Sam’s height.

‘Dean, I surely haven’t grown since you last saw me. I was 19 when you left.’

They paused. Then Sam resumed, ‘Dean, what are you doing here? How did you even get here?’

‘Well, there are those things they call spaceships. Sadly, my Baby couldn’t come all the way with me…’

‘Wait. What are you talking about?’ Sam interrupted him, a little confused. ‘You have a baby?’

‘Not _a_ baby. My Baby…my ship, that’s what I called her,’ Dean explained.

‘Oh, I see. But you still haven’t answered the rest of my question. I’m sure you didn’t just walk in here through the main entrance without anyone noticing.’

‘Well, I had help, okay. And there’s a reason I’m here.’

‘Which is…’ Sam provided.

‘Can I trust you? I mean, can I talk openly without risking that you’ll get my ass into trouble?’ Dean should rather be cautious now.

‘Dean, you’re my brother. I love you, after all. You can tell me anything.’

Though he knew he couldn’t be sure, he made up his mind to believe his younger brother.

‘Alright then. I’m here because the Men of Lettuce need to stop their whole superpower madness.’

‘Hold on a second…you know about that? I wasn’t even meant to know,’ Sam asked perplexedly.

‘I have my sources. The point is, are you willing to help and put an end to these insane activities?’

All his worries about Jess came to his mind. There was a solution to his problems he hadn’t expected but welcomed gratefully.

‘I’m in,’ he said, ‘but first you have to tell me what you’ve been up to in the past years.’

Dean smiled. His brother was on board with him and they were finally together again.

 

*

 

‘Tell me, Cas, how did you two meet, you and Dean?’ Meg asked as they were walking through the laboratory.

Dean had always dinned into Castiel not to tell the truth about their first encounter.

‘I helped him when he was lost,’ he replied.

‘You mean he asked you for directions,’ Meg said.

‘Yes, you could say that. He asked me to join him and that’s our story,’ Cas remarked further.

‘How long have you known each other?’

‘For three years. I haven’t left his side since,’ he told her.

‘So you two must be very good friends,’

‘Yes, we are very close.’

‘You’re not much of a talker, aren’t you?’ Meg said and simpered.

He stopped and looked at her.

‘You’re kinda cute, you know,’ she continued.

Cas blushed and suddenly felt slightly uncomfortable.

When he didn’t answer, she eventually resumed, ‘Come on now. I’ll show you what progress there’s already been made with the superpowers.’

 

*

 

‘Now that I know that your only baby is your ship, I have to ask, is there anyone in your life? Do you have a girlfriend…or a wife?’ Sam knew that Dean wasn’t really the type for marriage, but asked anyway. A lot could have happened in six years, maybe his brother had been converted.

‘A wife? No,’ Dean said and laughed, ‘that’s really not my kind of thing. There have been many women, of course, you know me, but nothing that lasted longer than a few nights.’

‘So you travel all on your own? Getting laid between two space vampire hunts?’ Sam asked concerned.

‘Spacepire.’

‘What?’

‘It’s spacepire,’ Dean stated.

‘Oh yeah, totally forgot about that,’ Sam said and giggled.

‘No, seriously,’ he resumed then, ‘don’t you get lonely when it’s just you out there, cruising in space?’

‘Who said I’m all on my own? I have company,’ Dean informed his brother.

‘One-night stands do not count as company,’ Sam objected.

‘I’m not talking about any chick. I have a friend who is always by my side.’

Sam raised two curious eyebrows.

‘So, then tell me. Who is it?’

‘His name is Cas…Castiel. He’s been by my side for the last three years,’ Dean told him.

‘Is he a hunter too?’

‘He assists me on hunts, yes, but he wasn’t into hunting when we met. I kinda helped him escape too, you know. His folks weren’t the kindest either,’ Dean explained.

Sam looked down to where he fumbled with his own fingers. He seemed sad all of a sudden.

‘Shit, Sam. I didn’t mean it like that. I had a very hard time leaving you behind. You were not one of the reasons to get out of here…in fact, you would have been the only reason to stay. But, you know, I just couldn’t.’

After a short silence, Sam began to speak again. ‘I know what you had to go through, not feeling to fit in. I don’t blame you for anything. I just missed my big brother.’

Dean’s chest got all warm and full. It made him realize how much he’d missed his brother himself. ‘Don’t make me cry here,’ he said jokingly, but had trouble holding back the tears.

‘What about you? Who were you expecting earlier?’ Dean decided to change the subject again.

‘You mean if I have a girlfriend?’ Sam asked.

‘That’s what I’m asking.’

‘A fiancée, to be precise. Her name is Jessica.’

‘Wow, little Sammy found himself a girl. Man, that’s great! How is she? What does she look like?’ Dean had gotten really excited.

‘Well, she’s beautiful and really smart…’ Something appeared to bother him.

‘You don’t seem to be very happy. Cold feet already?’

‘No, it’s nothing about that. Remember when I said that I wasn’t even allowed to know about the space monster abilities experiments? I only know because she told me. She is a participant in that study. They test those powers on her and I’m really not okay with that.’

‘Oh…well, now I understand why you agreed to help me so quickly,’ Dean said.

‘Yeah, I’m really worried about her, you know.’

‘I totally get that, Sam.’

They fell silent for a while. Dean was the first to talk again.

‘Hey, Sam? Dad…is he really dead?’

‘Yes, Dean. He died.’

Dean just nodded. He couldn’t have been one hundred percent sure, but now he had the confirmation that it was actually true.

 

*

 

Meg had exchanged Castiel’s tan trench coat for a clinical white lab coat.

‘I’m calling our first subject now. I’ll let her demonstrate the powers she got implanted. You don’t have to do much, just do what I’ll tell you,’ Meg briefed him.

When she returned, another woman with curly blonde hair was following her.

‘Jessica, this is my new assistant, Cas. Cas, this is Jessica Moore.’ They shook hands and Jess sat down on the examination table.

First, Meg took her blood pressure and checked her sight and reflexes. Cas was assigned to write down what Meg dictated.

‘Everything seems good so far. I’ll suggest that you show us a demonstration of the shapeshifting now. Try it with Cas,’ then Dr. Masters turned to Castiel. ‘Cas, would you please be so kind and let Jessica touch your hand.’

Castiel hesitated for a second, then stretched his arm for Jess to reach for it. She took it and after a moment her hair began to darken and the curls straightened.

Cas withdrew his hand in shock. Jessica had a satisfied smile on her face.

‘Very good,’ Meg approved. ‘Now I’ll inject you another dose of the borage serum and then you just lie back, relax and wait like we had it.’

Meg put the emptied syringe to the side and signaled Cas to follow her into another room.

‘It frightened you,’ she said.

‘It is frightening. That’s why we’re here. To stop it,’ Castiel replied.

‘That’s true. Anyway, that ability was harmless. Just imagine what else could be done.’

Castiel wasn’t really good at reading people, but he had the impression that Meg was a little too proud of what she had just shown him.


	8. Chapter 8

Dean had to admit that their plan wasn’t really elaborate. Meg would falsify some of her results, so that it would look like they were stuck with their experiments. Cas would destroy some of the key results of their study when Meg was not around, so it guaranteed her an alibi in case she’d get suspected of manipulation.

Dean and Sam would make sure to get rid of the space monsters the Men of Lettuce had locked away. He wasn’t exactly sure how long all this would take, but they had to be very careful; Dean didn’t want to get his brother into trouble.

Sam had insisted on starting their undertaking as soon as possible, which meant that right after their talk they headed for the dungeon.

‘I am in charge of the leviathan hunting task force. Nobody will bat an eye if I want to see the caged individuals,’ Sam explained.

He showed his identification to the guard and they were free to pass. Before they had left Sam’s apartment, he had forced Dean to change his leather piece for one of his own old uniform jackets, with _D. Winchester_ stitched onto one side. Dean had resisted at first, but realized that the disguise was necessary. Also, it had almost made him cry to see that Sam had kept it after he’d left.

‘And what are we supposed to do now that we’re here?’ Dean asked.

‘For the leviathans I have a plan. The rest is still in the making.’

‘Then let’s start with the leviathans. We can’t kill all of them anyway. For now.’

Sam took something out of his pocket.

‘What the hell is this, man?’ Dean wondered.

‘It’s a borage grenade. Newest generation. A prototype. The shell will burn up when it explodes. There will only be traces of borage left.’

‘Are you serious? You want to blow up a fuckin’ grenade in here?’ Dean almost exclaimed, but held back and spoke with a lower voice instead.

‘It hardly makes any noise when it explodes. Just a faint ‘poof’,’ Sam reassured him.

‘Don’t you think they will relate this to you when all the leviathans are suddenly dead?’

‘It has a remote fuse.’

‘Of course it has.’ Dean was so done with this Men of Lettuce technology shit.

‘Fine then. Put it in there and let’s get the fuck outta here. When we’re safe, you can do the ‘poof’-thing.’

 

*

 

‘Jessica, now that this experiment is successfully finished, I’d like you to start a new project. New abilities. You would be the first and, for now, only participant to have the honor,’ Meg announced.

‘Wow…I mean, that would be great, yes. Thanks for offering me, Dr. Masters.’

‘I’m grateful for your consent. Thank _you,_ Jessica.’

‘Can you already tell me what it is,’ Jess asked.

‘We still have to work out a few things. The testing will start next time, then I’ll let you know,’ Meg told her. ‘You are dismissed for now.’

After Jess had left, Cas took her by the arm and frowned at her face.

‘I think we’re here to stop all this, not to endorse it,’ he said.

‘We are. Anyhow, we have to continue our work to keep up appearances,’ she explained.

He let go of her and stepped back.

‘No need to withdraw yourself. You are sexy when you get all rough and angry,’ she said seductively.

Meg grabbed his hand and dragged him into another room where she pushed him against the wall, her lips ghosting over his.

‘I…I’m feeling rather uncomfortable now,’ Castiel stammered. He could just shove her aside; he was certainly stronger than her. However, nervousness paralyzed him and he just stood there and tolerated her sucking at his neck now.

‘Your body tells me otherwise,’ she said, pressing a hand on his groin.

Then he heard something click, recognizing a sudden chilliness around his wrist. Before he could realize what was going on, he noticed a second click and the cold assaulted his other wrist as well. He wasn’t able to move. This time not because the touch of a woman froze him, but due to being cuffed to the wall.

‘What is this? What are you doing?’ Castiel felt panic grow inside him.

‘Calm down, darling. Have I forgotten to mention that you, too, are going to be part of our next experiment?’ She said sneeringly as a triumphant smile emerged on her face.

Castiel could only stare at her in horror.

 

*

 

Sam and Dean were already on the way back to the apartment when they heard someone call from behind. ‘Sam, wait!’ He stopped, holding onto his brother’s shoulder to follow his lead. ‘Oh, hey…’ Dean looked up to his brother who seemed to be quite uneasy about the man approaching them.

‘It’s nice to meet you here. We haven’t seen each other too often outside work lately.’

‘Yes…yes, that’s true,’ Sam answered. All Dean could do was stand there and keep quiet.

‘And who is your friend here?’ The man paused. ‘No? Is it?’

Sam nodded.

‘Dean Winchester, be a good boy and say hello to your grandfather. Well, your young and virile grandfather.’

Dean reluctantly shook Henry Winchesters hand. ‘Hello…?’

‘Son, what are you doing here? I mean, it’s good to see you, but everyone thought you were lost in space.’

 _Stick to the plan,_ Dean told himself.

‘Uh, you know, missed home, missed my brother. So, here I am.’

Henry smiled at him for a while, then he directed his attention towards Sam again.

‘While we’re here now – sorry to interrupt your free time – but I’ll take the opportunity to tell you that the order to eliminate all leviathans in the dungeon has already been given. We don’t need them anymore. I thought you should know.’

Sam was startled. Did Henry know anything? It felt unlikely to be a coincidence.

‘Really? I didn’t know they were planning to do so?’

‘Well, your mission in Purgatory is almost completed and the science department does no longer have use for them,’ Henry answered.

‘Right…then, thanks for informing me. See you tomorrow.’

‘Goodbye Sam.’ Then he turned to the older brother. ‘Dean, I sincerely hope to have a talk with you soon.’

‘Yeah, of course. Looking forward to it,’ he said and smiled awkwardly.

As soon as Henry was out of earshot, Dean said ‘I think our whole endeavor was for nothing. We can shove that remote up our…’

‘Dean,’ Sam interrupted him. ‘At least we’re getting rid of the leviathans anyway.’

‘Yeah, but only because they have examined them enough, which means we’re screwed. Superpowers ahead,’ Dean concluded.

When they got to Sam’s place, someone was already awaiting them. ‘Sam!’ Jessica came out of the living room to greet her fiancé, but stopped abruptly when she saw Dean next to him.

‘Oh, hi. Who are you?’ she asked.

‘Jess, that’s my brother, Dean,’ he explained. ‘And Dean, that’s Jessica.’

‘It’s nice to meet you, Jess. Sam has already told me about you,’ Dean said.

‘Your brother? He’s back…you’re back?’

‘Apparently,’ Dean remarked.

A second of bewilderment later her arms enveloped him. ‘I’ve heard so many stories about you. I’m so happy to see you. I know what you mean to Sam.’

Dean blushed a little and returned the hug.

 

*

 

Jessica had already prepared dinner before the brothers arrived. ‘I wanted to celebrate the news I have,’ she explained.

They were circling the table while Jess and Sam were enjoying the healthy food. Dean just poked his vegetables. The chicken had been the only thing on the plate he’d dared to eat.

‘So, Dean, what brings you back here?’ Jessica broke their reverent silence.

‘Well, my brother, of course. I really missed the guy,’ he answered and patted Sam’s shoulder.

‘Didn’t you have some news?’ Sam asked.

‘I could go to another room if you don’t want me to hear it,’ Dean offered.

‘You haven’t even finished your dinner yet,’ Jess said.

‘I’m good. I’ll just go, you two talk, okay?’ He said without waiting for an answer and left the kitchen.

Jessica made sure to wait until Dean had entered another room until she leaned over to start talking, almost whispering.

‘I’m soon beginning a new project.’

‘You mean new powers?’ Sam asked.

‘Yes,’ Jessica replied excitedly.

‘Jess, can I ask you something?’

‘Of course. What is it?’ She took his right hand into one of hers. With the other she pushed a brown strand away from his eyes.

‘Are you working with Meg Masters?’

The question surprised her. ‘Yes. How do you know?’

‘Does she happen to have an assistant?’

‘Yes, she actually has a new assistant. His name is Cas.’

‘So you’ve already met him?’

‘Yeah…Sam, why are you asking?’ She sounded a little worried.

‘Uh, I…I know him and I was just curious whether the two of you were working together, so…’ He wasn’t really sure how to talk himself out of that.

Fortunately she seemed satisfied by his explanation.

‘How about I leave you alone with your brother for tonight so you can talk. I’m sure you still have a lot to tell each other,’ she suggested. Sam was relieved to hear that.

‘If you don’t mind…yeah, thanks.’ He escorted her to the door and kissed her goodbye.

‘She’s working with Meg. And she met Cas. They’ll start a new experiment soon,’ Sam spoke as he joined Dean in the living room.

‘What the hell are they doing? They were supposed to stop this shit,’ Dean responded.

‘Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.’

‘We need to go and talk to Meg,’ stated Dean. ‘Something’s wrong, I can feel it.’


	9. Chapter 9

‘You’re truly special. I’ve tried my best to hurt you, but whatever I do, it doesn’t seem to affect you,’ Meg said, her voice being completely calm.

She fondled Castiel’s cheek, only to push a silver blade trough his heart a second later. He coughed in response, ignoring her silent curse.

‘Oh, you think it’s funny? Well, I’m having a good time too. Let’s try it with the beautiful head of yours.’

The spike Meg was now holding in her hand reflected the spotlight that was directed at Cas and that blinded him every time he looked up. She pressed the tip against his temple and slowly pushed it inside his cranium.

Castiel screamed in agony. A pain he had never felt before filled his brain, the skull imminent to explode.

‘I guess we’re finally making progress here,’ Meg remarked, completely untouched by Castiel’s suffering.

‘Please, stop,’ he whined.

‘Begging only turns me on,’ she replied. ‘Here’s the deal. You tell me what you are and where you’re from and I’ll quit putting things in your head.’

‘I am me. What do you want,’ he cried out, tears dropping off his chin like a waterfall.

‘You heard me. As you are definitely not human, I want to know more about your kind.’ Meg had already provided herself with another spike, pointing the sharp end towards his eye.

‘I don’t know,’ he sobbed. ‘I am one of Chuck’s children.’

She drew back, having forced something out of Cas at last.

‘Who is this Chuck?’ she inquired.

‘He’s our father.’ Sweat ran down his forehead and burned in his eyes, having broken the levee of his brows.

‘ _Our_ father? How many of you are there?’

Castiel didn’t answer. The small part of his brain that was still able to think demanded him to shut up; he had already given away too much.

‘Spit it out!’ she yelled.

When Cas still didn’t respond, she brutally thrust the second spike between his eyes.

 

*

 

As they were about to leave, Sam got a call from Henry that he wanted to see him and Dean immediately. Though Dean was worried about Cas, they went straight to their grandfather’s office. They didn’t want him to get suspicious.

‘Sam, would you please be so kind and tell me why we found a borage grenade in the dungeon?’ They commander eyed the brothers with plangency.

Sam knew that there was no point in lying. He was one of the few persons who had access to the prototype.

‘I intended to test the grenade myself, see how it worked. I subsequently realized that it was an unwise choice attempting to let it detonate in the dungeon,’ he confessed remorsefully. ‘I apologize for my foolishness, sir.’

‘Well, now that the leviathans are about to be dispatched, you are free to push the button anyway,’ The nonchalance in Henry’s voice left him puzzled.

‘Excuse me, sir…?’

‘We left the grenade were you placed it. I assume you are still carrying the remote,’ Henry said, stepping closer towards Sam. He let his hands slide in his grandson’s pockets, collected the fuse and handed it to Sam.

‘Do it.’ The tranquility almost let him doubt that it was an actual command.

Henry placed Sam’s thumb on the trigger and gave it a slight push with his to instigate his inferior what to do. The younger Winchester did as he was told and the commander smiled smugly.

‘I advise you to better not hesitate the next time you’re ordered to do something by someone with a higher rank than yours,’ Henry told him.

‘Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.’ The words escaped Sam’s mouth in the tone of military urgency.

‘You are free to go. Dean, with you I’d like to have a conversation in private.’

‘Now?’ Dean felt like he was going to be sick.

‘Yes, now,’ Henry clarified.

He faced his brother who didn’t look too relaxed either. ‘It’s okay, go’ Dean said and mouthed ‘find Cas.’

When Sam wanted to exit the armed forces unit, he was held up by two guards.

‘Sam Winchester, you’re under arrest,’ said one of them.

‘What? Why?’ His grandfather’s reaction had let him believe that there were no further consequences to expect. ‘There must be a misunderstanding.’

‘You can discuss that issue during the interrogation,’ the guard told him and pressed his hands to his back to cuff them.

 

*

 

‘The infamous Dean Winchester…never thought to have you right in front of me one day,’ Henry said, thoughtfully walking up and down.

Dean was seated in a chair and watched his grandfather, hoping he would eventually tell him why he was still here.

‘Even though I was doubtful that you’ll ever return, I was certain that _if_ you were going to, it would definitely be a disturbance for the Men of Lettuce.’ He stopped his oscillating movement and bent down, hands on the armrests of Dean’s chair and their noses almost touching. ‘I will not tolerate such behavior,’ he said in an unpredictably loud voice which caused Dean to cringe in his rather amenable position.

‘Hey man…I mean, sir. I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. I’m just here to visit my little brother. When did that become a crime?’ he replied, trying to sound confident.

‘I am perfectly aware of why you’re here. You don’t have to play the innocent space traveler who just stopped by for a brief family reunion.’

‘Then tell me, smart-ass, why did I come back to this crappy place?’ Dean felt that civility wouldn’t bring him any further.

Henry didn’t react as he had expected. Instead of getting furious he just chuckled and threw a contemptuous look at him.

‘Boy, did you really think you could just march in here without anyone giving a shit and destroy everything we’ve worked for?’ He made a dramatic pause. ‘Guards, get this little bastard out of my sight. Lock him up for good.’ Two uniformed men entered the room and grabbed one of Dean’s arms each. The hunter tried to resist their grip but had to admit defeat when his hands were being cuffed on his back and one of the guards was about to break his arm.

Only minutes later he found himself in a dimly lit prison cell that contained not more than a small bed and a dirty toilet.

He had no idea if and when Sam would find out about his current situation or whether he could do anything against it. He sat down on the thin mattress, covering his face with his hands and fighting the urge to cry. The fear for Cas quickly replaced his desperation about being held captive. The certainty inside him grew that all this had been a trap he carelessly stepped in, dragging his best friend with him into perdition.

 

*

 

‘He calls it H34V3N, sir,’ Meg told the man on the other end of the intercom. ‘It seems to be located somewhere on the outskirts of the galaxy.’

Cas hadn’t been able to understand what the man was saying, but the conversation was apparently over because Meg had her focus on him again. He knew it was her, although he could only make out a blurry figure coming closer. He felt the metal in his head being removed. Electrodes replaced them and a tingling heat began to flood his whole body. He thought he’d heard something but wasn’t sure whether it were his screams or if he was just hallucinating now. The pain had made everything numb. He was sure that he was still being hurt, yet his inability to sense it was a relief.

Castiel didn’t know how much time had passed since Meg had chained him to the wall. It had probably been a few hours but it felt like days, months, endless periods of time that had him suffer.


	10. Chapter 10

Hours had gone by and Sam was still sitting and waiting in the interrogation room. He had fallen asleep over the table a few times, always jerking awake after a couple of minutes.

As they didn’t let him go, he was sure that Dean was in trouble as well. He needed to find Jess and beg her to quit her involvement in those experiments. Also, he had to find Cas. He hadn’t even met him yet, but his brother’s worry over him had made him realize that he meant a lot to Dean. Why wouldn’t he? Dean had been all on his own for three years and then Cas entered his life and he had shared it with him ever since. Cas had been there for Dean, unlike Sam who let him run off alone. Dean might have felt guilty over leaving him behind, but Sam blamed himself for not following him even as much. Anyhow, now he had Jess and he would be there for her till his last breath.

He had to get out of here.

Sam had stood up and knocked on the door. The guard outside opened it slightly, barking ‘What?’

‘Uh, I really need to go, you know. I’ve held it back for the last few hours but soon I’ll be having an accident,’ Sam explained.

‘Need to go where?’

‘To use the bathroom, please.’

The guard hesitated for a minute. ‘Fine, let’s go. But you hurry.’ Sam was led down the hallway as he stopped abruptly, his hand pressed to his stomach, and groaned.

‘Shit, what is it?’ When the other man bent down to check on him, he got startled by Sam’s elbow punching his throat. He went down on his knees, the Winchester turned around and knocked him out with his fist hitting the guard’s face.

‘Sorry,’ Sam mumbled and collected the other’s key card.

He managed to escape unnoticed and headed for Jessica’s housing unit. As it was still early in the morning, he was optimistic to find her there before she went to work at the science department.

 

*

 

How could he not have seen this coming? Maybe he had but ignored all alarms going off in his head because there was a chance to see his baby brother again. Now he was here, in a stinky cell in the innermost dungeon of the Men of Lettuce bunker.

Cas was god knows where, people doing god knows what to him. Dean was certainly not the reason why they were lured back here, but him. The hunter didn’t know how they had found out about Castiel’s powers, yet they had. He was sure that’s why Garth had been contacted. Dean didn’t believe that the guy himself was behind the plan, rather did he function as Meg’s puppet.

He had always been so careful, telling Cas it was not safe to heal him when others could see it. Could it be possible that one of the space monsters survived and told the Men of Lettuce about him when it got caught? It didn’t matter now. However they had learned about Castiel’s abilities, it was Dean’s fault that he was probably getting hurt now.

Could they even hurt him? Would they torture him just like the monsters? He should never have left Cas alone with Meg in the first place.

Dean was curled up on the bed, his knees docking onto his chin and weeping into the smelly mattress.

He was so stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

*

 

‘Thank you for coming here so early in the morning. I’m sorry to have woken you up but we need to rush things here a little,’ Meg said.

‘No problem. I know how important this project is for you,’ Jessica answered.

‘I really appreciate your dedication, Ms. Moore. Now, if you would be so nice to let me apply the electrodes.’ Jess nodded and leaned back on the medical chair. Then Meg laid her hand on a switch and warned her that the next step might hurt.

‘Just do it. I’ll be okay,’ the blonde woman encouraged her.

The strange energy suddenly flowing through her body was rather uncomfortable but then the feeling turned into something else. A powerful sensation hit her and it was great. Jess felt like she could fly, like she could do whatever she wanted – she felt invincible.

When Meg turned the machinery off again, Jess was still overwhelmed by the sudden vigor that filled her.

‘How are you now?’

‘Awesome,’ was everything Jessica could answer.

‘Do you think we could try it already?’

Jess gasped and took a while to adjust to what was taking her full capacity.

‘What exactly is it that I should be able to do now?’ she eventually replied.

Meg took her hand and with a knife she inflicted a deep cut on it. Jessica jolted, expecting the pain, but it didn’t come. Though she could feel the injury, it was more of a light scratch. She gazed at the wound as it began to disappear until it was gone entirely.

‘What…what was that?’ she panted.

‘Your new talent, my dear,’ Meg answered, sparkles in her eyes.

 

*

 

When Sam entered the science department, he was relieved to see that no one seemed to be at work yet. Jessica hadn’t been in her apartment, so he assumed that she might have gone there already. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the slightest clue where to look for her. After some time he found a floorplan with which he could rule out a handful of locations and decided to head for _Genetics, corridors F and G._

As he was halfway there, the lights began to flicker and then the power went out for a few seconds. _Strange,_ he thought, and hurried further down the hallway. When he reached a security barrier, he thankfully noticed that the power failure must have left it unlocked.

Sam checked out every room he got along, peeping into the numerous laboratories, when he, after a while, heard voices echoing from further back. He followed the sound and finally spotted Jess around the corner. As he approached her, he could see another woman standing next her.

‘Jess!’ he called, only to witness his fiancée being stabbed in her stomach by the woman in the lab coat.

‘No,’ he cried out and ran towards her, pushing Dr. Masters aside and causing her to fall to the floor.

‘Sam? What are you doing here?’ Jessica said.

Shaky hands grabbed her shoulders. ‘Jess…what did she do to you? Oh my god,’ then the words just got stuck in his throat.

‘It’s okay, Sam. I can hardly feel it,’ she calmed him down and pulled the knife out. The big leaking spot from which she had just removed the blade vanished, only a hole in her shirt and a few blood stains on it remained.

‘What the…?’ he commented the miracle.

‘It is quite an achievement, isn’t it?’ Meg, who was back on her feet again, said. ‘You shouldn’t be here, but since I’ve heard of your escape I was sort of expecting you.’

‘What did you do to her?’ Sam snapped at her.

‘Sam, I’m fine, really,’ Jess interrupted him, dragging him away from Meg. ‘There’s no need for you to worry,’ she assured him and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips.

‘Those experiments stop now!’ he commanded, glancing back at Meg.

‘You certainly don’t have a say in that, Winchester,’ she reminded him.

‘I have when you’re hurting my fiancée,’ Sam insisted.

‘She didn’t hurt me,’ Jess defended the doctor.

‘You better leave now before I tell your grandfather that you’re here,’ Meg threatened.

‘I will, and Jess is coming with me.’

‘No, we’re not finished here yet.’ Jess wriggled her arm out of Sam’s tight grip. ‘Stop it, Sam! Just go now.’ The look on her face told him to not argue with her about it any longer.

Sam sighed. ‘Did you see Cas somewhere?’ he asked her in a tranquil tone.

‘That’s none of your business. Now go,’ Meg interfered, already standing close to the intercom.

There was nothing he could do. If he didn’t leave now, Meg would call the guards and that wouldn’t help him in his current situation.

He turned towards Jess to kiss her goodbye, when she suddenly started to cough uncontrollably in his face. He felt something wet on his skin and soon realized that it was blood. Jess was spitting blood everywhere on him and herself!

‘Jess, no!’ He took her hand but had to let go immediately because it was burning hot. She seemed to glow from the inside, like a fire had ignited inside her.

‘Get out of my way,’ Meg said as she stepped up to her and shoved Sam to the side.

When she attempted to touch Jess, a flash of light erupted from her, hitting Meg and causing her to get thrown across the room, crashing her skull against the wall and splattering red all over the white surface.

Then the light got so bright that Sam had to cover his eyes, feeling immense heat radiating from Jessica’s body, hearing her scream.

After a brief moment it was over. He opened his eyes to find Jess lying on the ground, severe burns covering her skin everywhere. Sam could feel that it wasn’t hot anymore. Instead, her body had turned ice-cold. She didn’t breathe, no heartbeat, no pulse. She was gone.

‘Jess?’ he said tentatively, shaking her. ‘Jess!’ This time it was a cry.

He couldn’t touch her dead body any longer. It was too much. He just sat on the floor, leaning back against the cupboard behind him. He was completely empty, unable to feel a single thing. His life had just ended.

 

*

 

Dean had cried himself into a restless sleep. Pure exhaustion had stopped him from fearing for Cas’s safety any longer.

‘Do you like your new accommodation?’

The question made him jump, feeling dizzy from the sudden movement. Henry Winchester stood behind the bars – on the favorable side.

‘What do you want?’ Dean asked, trying to not sound like he had cried for hours.

His grandfather smirked. ‘I thought it wouldn’t be fair to leave you uncertain about your companion’s fate.’  
‘What do you mean? What did you sons of bitches do to him?’ Dean had hastened forward, hands now clenched around the bars.

‘Your friend is dead,’ Henry informed him matter-of-factly.

Dean would have already sunk to his knees if he hadn’t held onto the bars so tightly.

‘On the bright side however, we succeeded in extracting his powers from him and planting it into one of our volunteers,’ Henry continued. ‘Uh, I think you know her. It’s your brother’s fiancée, a really outstanding Woman of Lettuce.’

‘Cas is dead?’ was all Dean managed to respond, almost choking on the big fat lump that was developing in his throat.

‘Yes Dean. And it’s all your fault. Have a nice time rotting in here. Goodbye,’ Henry said and then he was gone.

He was right. Cas was dead and it was his fault. He just wished that his ship had never crashed in the middle of nowhere or that he had died in the process. He would never have met Cas and he would have had a happy life on his planet with his family, never knowing the pain Dean’s existence had inflicted on him.

He deserved his sentence of being trapped in here forever with his guilt.


	11. Chapter 11

Sam couldn’t just let her lie there on the floor. At least he had to cover her body somehow. He wasn’t concerned anymore about getting caught. They should throw him in the darkest dungeon if they desired, he didn’t care. Jess was dead. All was lost.

Then the thought of Dean entered his mind. He was already devastated over her death, he wasn’t going to lose him too.

He searched the lab for a sheet or anything to put over Jess to allow her at least a little bit of dignity. When he entered another room, he spotted someone inside it. A man’s inanimate body was chained to the wall. Encrusted blood covered his face. _Could that be Cas?_ was Sam’s first idea.

He stepped closer and touched the man’s shoulder. ‘Cas?’ There came no response.

Sam was certain that he was dead as well. Why wasn’t he able to save at least someone? How would Dean react to that?

Sam turned around and combed his hands through his hair, taking in a deep breath and thinking about what to do now.

Then he heard a tormented gasp behind him. He looked back at the man hanging from the wall who had slightly opened his eyes.

‘Cas?’ Sam rushed back to him.

‘Dean?’ Cas gagged almost inaudibly.

‘No, it’s Sam, Dean’s brother.’ Sam cupped his face and held it up so that he could look Cas into his eyes.

Cas squinted and didn’t appear to get what Sam was saying because again he said ‘Dean.’

Sam looked at the cuffs that tied him to the wall. There had to be a key somewhere. ‘I’ll be right back,’ he assured Cas and went to the other room. He bent over Meg’s body and tried not to look at the bloody mess her head had caused, rummaging the pockets of her lab coat until he found what he was looking for.

He returned to Cas and freed him from his chains. Cas fell right forward into Sam’s arms, unable to stand on his own. He had to get him out of the bunker now.

‘Cas? Cas, can you walk?’ No, he couldn’t. Sam sat him down on a chair to collect himself. He would have to make sure that Cas was save first, then come back for Dean. The problem was that he didn’t know how.

Just then, as if someone had chosen to answer his silent prayers, he heard a beep which seemed to come right out of Cas’s pocket. Sam let his hand slide inside – Cas didn’t mind anyway – and found a communication device. He pushed the button to answer the call.

‘Hello?’

‘Dean? Is that you? Where are you guys? You should’ve reported back hours ago,’ a male voice said.

‘Who is that?’

‘What do you mean _who is that?_ What are you doing?’

‘It’s Dean’s brother Sam. Dean is in trouble and Cas isn’t really fine either.’

Silence on the other end. Then the voice spoke again. ‘What happened to them?’

‘I don’t exactly know where Dean is now and Cas appears to be more dead than alive but he’s with me now,’ Sam explained. ‘I still don’t know who you are.’

‘Oh, that’s bad. Can you get Cas out of there somehow? I’m Garth, by the way. I’m also a hunter.’

Sam considered that for a moment. ‘Alright, Garth. I know a hardly frequented corridor that leads outside into the woods. I’ll send you the coordinates. It may take a while because Cas is not very solid on his feet. I think I’ll have to carry him.’

And he did carry Cas. Although he didn’t look like it, he was actually quite heavy. When he passed Jessica’s dead body, Sam was reminded of what he had intended to do. He put Cas down on the examination table next to the door and hurried back to the room where had found Cas. From the chair he grabbed a spare lab coat, the one that Cas had worn earlier, and draped it gently over her. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he whispered and then he picked Castiel up again and headed out.

 

*

 

Dean had told Garth to wait near the bunker on ground level in case something went wrong. They had agreed that Dean would keep him up to date on how things were going. Cas also got a device so he could call Dean or Garth if he needed help. As it had turned out, Castiel’s friend had been right about not trusting Meg entirely.

Unfortunately, Dean’s belongings had been confiscated before he got looked up in the dungeon. However, Meg hadn’t minded searching Cas’s pockets for any suspicious things – a negligence that might be saving his life now.

When Sam hit the surface with Cas in his arms, Garth was already waiting by the gate.

‘What did they do to him?’ Garth asked.

‘I don’t know. I don’t even know how he’s still alive…I mean, look at him.’ Sam leaned Castiel against Garth’s ship and they both helped him lie down inside.

Then the Man of Lettuce and the hunter told each other their stories. ‘Will you look after him while I get Dean?’ Sam said.

‘You want to go back in there after what you’ve told me? Are you serious? They will catch you and then both Winchester brothers end up in the bunker’s prison.’ Garth objected.

‘Do you have a better idea?’

‘Actually, I have,’ Garth said, a little pride in his tone. ‘While I was waiting to hear from Dean or Cas, I used the time to find the ways that lead out of the bunker and what’s on the other end. This guy here with his built-in sonic device helped.’ Garth patted something next to him that, if Sam made extensive use of his imagination, might have resembled a robot.

 

*

 

Dean lay on his bed, starring at the ceiling. He heard water dropping on the ground somewhere. He knew that he shouldn’t give up and try to find a way out, but it was hopeless. And why should he anyway? What was he supposed to do if he got out? If he was lucky enough and the Men of Lettuce wouldn’t hunt him down, he could kill space monsters again. What about the time in between the jobs? There was nobody waiting for him now. Sam had certainly started trying to forget what had happened in the past hours. His brother had his own life after all.

Then he heard a rumble behind the wall. Dust fell from the bricks as Dean felt it vibrate and all of a sudden there was a hole and something familiar appeared through it.

‘Mr. Fizzles?’ Dean couldn’t believe that he had said that stupid name out loud. The robot obviously had no feature to respond but a communication device, like the one he and Cas had taken with them to the bunker, was attached to it. He took it and pressed the button.

‘Garth?’

‘Dean, are you alright?’ Garth asked.

‘Not really, but I’m unharmed,’ Dean replied.

‘Dean, listen. Just follow Mr. Fizzles and he will lead you out. We are waiting for you on the outside.’

‘We?’

‘Yes, your brother and Cas,’ the other hunter explained.

‘Cas? Cas is alive?’ Dean had trouble to not speak too loud.

‘He is, but he’s injured. Sam saved him.’

A wave of relief rolled through Dean’s body. Cas was hurt – but he was alive!

‘I’m coming,’ he told Garth and let the robot show him the way out.

 

*

 

Although Castiel was only half conscious, he heard the voice he knew so well – Dean’s. ‘Hey Cas, everything will be okay, I promise. Hold out, we’ll fix you.’

He could only see different shades of color, but it had to be Dean who bent over him now. There was something missing. It was the strong scent of leather that always accompanied his friend. Cas had missed the smell when he had been chained to that wall. The thought of the smell had comforted him through the pain.

‘Cas, can you hear me? I’m here now.’

‘Dean.’ Castiel wasn’t aware that he had raised his arms a little so that Dean could lean into an embrace, pushing his hands between Cas’s back and the seat of Garth’s ship.

Dean held him tight and nuzzled his nose in the crook of his friend’s neck. Then he fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Garth had taken them to Dean’s ship and then parted ways. Sam had decided to stay with his brother and Castiel. He couldn’t go back to where Jess had died and an uncertain future awaited him. He hadn’t talked much on the way to the motel on Pak Choy. Now Sam was lying on one of the beds with his eyes open but not focused on anything.

Dean was in the bathroom where he had put Cas in a tub filled with warm water and carefully wiped the blood off his face with a washcloth. He still had wounds on his head, though they weren’t deep. Hours had gone by and still they didn’t seem to heal. When Dean dabbed the punctures with the washcloth, Cas hissed and said something that sounded like ‘hurts’.

Castiel’s clothes had been bloody and drenched in sweat. Dean could do nothing but throw them away. Also, Cas’s beloved trench coat was missing. Fortunately, Dean had kept the clothes that he had bought together with the other outfit, so that he could dress him now in jeans and a T-shirt.

After a few days, which Dean had spent looking after both, his friend and his brother, Cas finally managed to speak in full sentences. During the time that had passed, Castiel was mostly asleep, but he also was – and that worried Dean a lot – thirsty and hungry from time to time, so he had to be fed and hydrated.

‘How do you feel?’ Dean asked.

‘Better, but I’m still very weak. Everything hurts and I’m tired all the time.’

‘Do you know what they did to you that you’re in this condition now?’

‘They drained my power. I guess I’m human now, kind of,’ Cas told him.

‘How can you be human, Cas?’

‘The only difference between you and me were my abilities, Dean. Now that I lost them what do you think that makes me?’

He was right. Cas tended to act weird in certain situations, but some human beings did too. Who was he to judge who deserved to be called _human_ and who didn’t?

‘What do you think happened to Jess?’ Sam entered the conversation.

‘I can’t be sure but my theory is that her body wasn’t strong enough to hold that amount of energy,’ Cas explained. Sam looked like he was about to cry again. ‘I’m sorry, Sam,’ Castiel said.

‘It’s not your fault,’ Sam said. Dean had gone around the bed to pull his brother into a hug. ‘Hey Sammy, just let it out, okay. No need to hold the tears back.’ They stood there for a while until Sam let go of his brother and dried his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

‘You know, they may have suffered a setback now, but they definitely won’t give up so easily. They’ll continue their experiments and more people will die,’ Sam said. ‘Who knows what they’ll plan next.’

Dean and Cas silently agreed to that but neither of them knew what to do about it. They certainly couldn’t defeat the Men of Lettuce on their own.

 

*

 

‘Although Sam, Dean and the H34V3N specimen escaped, we’re confident to soon be able to continue our studies,’ Henry Winchester reassured.

‘There should have been no doubt that the subject was actually dead,’ his superior said.

‘Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir. Dr. Masters seemed to be certain about it,’ Henry defended himself.

‘Don’t try to blame a dead person for your mistakes. It’s your responsibility,’ the other man scolded him.

Henry’s face turned red with rage. ‘You might be of higher rank and your physical age is above mine but I’m still your…’

‘Enough!’ the other interrupted him. ‘Go and make sure to get everything we need for our next mission.’

‘Of course, sir,’ Henry replied apologetically. Then he left his superior’s office.

The map of the galaxy was still incomplete. A few spots hadn’t yet been explored. However, the empty spaces would soon be filled with new information. The next entry would be a remote planet that its natives called H34V3N. For those who were familiar with its history, the name _Heaven_ applied as well.

The first time he had heard of it was long ago. He had almost forgotten about it, but now there was a new lead. One that he wouldn’t have expected to be given by Dean back when he had run off. John Winchester had his eyes fixed on the map and smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued...
> 
> Let me know what you think about it!
> 
>  ~~P.S.: Obviously, my intention is to write a sequel sometime.~~ There is a sequel now!


End file.
